Thursday, March 21, 2013

His reasoning: Players get caught up in the magic of the WBC when they get a chance to play in it—or even watch it. So those who play can’t wait to play again. And many who watch think, “I’d like to be a part of that.” And if the next edition were two years away, “maybe there’d be slightly more anticipation,” he said, “because it’s still relatively fresh.”

But by the time the next one rolls around, if it’s a four-year wait, all that passion, all that momentum, has faded away, Rollins theorized. So getting the best players to play becomes a harder sell than it would be if the next WBC was just over the horizon.

“Four years, especially in this sport, where you play every day, is a long time,” he said. “So you’ve got guys who are 28 [and didn’t play]. But now they’d know they’d get another shot when they’re 30, instead of when they’re 32. Big difference. When you’ve got four years of baseball in between, a lot can go on. Four years is a long time.

“Wasn’t it (Bryce) Harper who said he definitely wants to play in the one in ‘17?” Rollins went on. “If there was one in ‘15, then he could have that first real big-league spring training (this year) and get that out of the way. Now the next year, he knows he’s on the team. He waits a year. And then the following year, he’d be able to play in it.”

Rollins knows there are players around him who will never buy in to the WBC. But all he can tell them is: They don’t know what they’re missing.

“When you see it, when you feel the environment, man, it’s something else,” he said. “Every game is an elimination game. There are no series. It’s like Jimmy V said in that (30 for 30 film): It’s survive and advance.

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I do wonder why the every 4 year pattern became so ingrained into sports for 'World Cup' type events. In an athletes career 4 years is a lifetime - for baseball .... 17 in most cases too young to even be drafted - 21 you are a super prospect, 25 you are fighting to get a last shot at an everyday job - 29 you are in your prime - 33 you are downhill and probably done - 37 often you are starting to coach - 41 only the best of the best are still playing - 45 you can count the number of guys on your fingers who make it this far - 49 you are now just counting on one hand.

I suspect a lot of players would enjoy it every 2 years as spring is very dull otherwise for them. I suspect a lot of teams would prefer every 10 years :P

I assume the easy answer is "the Olympics". But that of course raises the question of why the Olympics started out as a four year program. I assume there's an easy answer to that one as well, but I don't know much about Olympic history. Perhaps due to the fact that it was a largely (entirely?) amateur event? It's kind of hard to haul off to another continent for a month every year if you're working as a bank clerk.

Hockey seems to manage a World Championship every year, though the every-four-years Olympic event is the money tournament. The various regional tournaments and qualifications keep soccer players playing internationally pretty much every year. The Euros don't mean as much as the World Cup, but they certainly mean quite a bit.

I do see Rollins's point, it's probably easier to feel connected to an event like the WBC when you know you'll be back again soon (or even next year!). I suppose there are logistics that make that difficult, but it's nice to see some top players excited about the WBC.

That's the ancient Greek cycle, a four-year Olympiad, and when it comes to the reasons for that, it's as mysterious as a lot of other classical ritual. It's vaguely like the Roman "lustrum," a five-year period punctuated by ritual observances. Both seem natural enough for solemnities that would be less imposing if conducted annually or biennially, but like a lot of "natural"-seeming things, they're really fairly arbitrary.

17 in most cases too young to even be drafted - 21 you are a super prospect, 25 you are fighting to get a last shot at an everyday job - 29 you are in your prime - 33 you are downhill and probably done - 37 often you are starting to coach - 41 only the best of the best are still playing - 45 you can count the number of guys on your fingers who make it this far - 49 you are now just counting on one hand.